


What Should have Been, but Couldn't Be

by Lady_Anime123



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, I love this series but the ending was awful, My own take on the story, Post-chapter 699 and 700, don't hate me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-17 04:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8130074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Anime123/pseuds/Lady_Anime123
Summary: Naruto has too many things on his mind. He has to make sure Sasuke comes back alive and that Kakashi is a good hokage, but as he tries to indulge himself in everything to keep his mind occupied, he can't stop thinking about a certain pink haired girl. And what about Hinata's feelings? This is my take on what should have happened between chapters 699 and 700 as well as the movie The Last.





	1. The Rookie 9

“Urokosutachi” 

“Hm, teme”

“Is there something on your mind, Sasu-“

“I can sense her…” a raven haired man said, trying to move, but to no avail.

“I know she is probably going to kill us for this…” _for placing her on that genjutsu,_ a blond haired man said. Obviously still upset on what the dark haired man had done before to a certain pink haired girl.  He was very nervous to see the woman approaching them.

“Kakashi- sensei, they’re here.”  A female voice full of concern and anguish said.

Haruno Sakura soon made her way toward her teammates. She was extremely angry at what Sasuke had done to her, but was too worried about their health to think about it too much.  She was right next to them and yet she could barely feel their chakras. As she leaned closer she saw how much blood was pouring out of their arm sockets. Their arms were completely ripped apart and she only hoped she had enough time to heal them. 

 _I will have to heal them as soon as I can; otherwise any hope of getting them prosthetic arm transplants will be futile_. Sakura thought with a concern look on her face.

Sakura immediately sat in between her two teammates. To her left was Sasuke, looking at her with a sorry expression on his face. She could tell he really wanted to tell her something, but she let it go. She had no time or desire to push him to say it. She was done hurting herself in order for him to open up.

“Thank you, Sakura- chan!”

Sakura quickly turned to her right where Naruto was lying down. He was giving her the biggest and brightest smile he could. She couldn’t smile thought; she couldn’t smile when he was hurt this badly. She opted to give him a small nod and looked down to their shoulders.

She was desperately trying to stop the blood. By the looks of it, they had been like this for at least a few hours.  She was so concentrated that she didn’t hear someone calling her name.

“Sakura…?” Sasuke said, his voice filled with regret.

“What?” Sakura said harshly.

She really did not want to deal with him right now. She had poured her heart to him and he had literally stabbed her in the heart (even if it was only a genjutsu).

If Sakura had paid any attention to Sasuke or Naruto, she would have notice how the blond flinched and the dark haired man widened his eyes a little. They had never heard her speak to Sasuke like that. Heck, even Kakashi looked a little scared.

“I…I’m Sorry” Sasuke said. He knew he had done many horrible things to her and a simple sorry would not repair the damage. He was hoping she will at least give him a chance at fixing it.

“I don’t care, now shut up, I’m concentrating,” Sakura said, venom dripping from her voice.  She really had enough of his bullshit and was not about to simply forgive him for all he had done. The genjutsu had placed the final nail on the coffin of her patience for him. He was going to respect her because she was not a lovesick little girl anymore. Tsunade taught her better.

“Sakura-chan…” Naruto intervene, trying to make her realize that Sasuke was really sorry for what he done.

Sakura simply threw him a look of ‘shut up this is none of your business’ and went back to healing.

Sakura, being a medic-nin, knew Sasuke was sincere. When a person was lying, their chakra flow changed for a millisecond. She would have noticed if he was lying, but he wasn’t. She could feel how desperate he felt, but she didn’t care. She had felt that way for him for too long and it was his turn to feel the same.

She let a sigh of relief when the hemorrhages stopped. She decided to just move her chakra around them to feel for any other injuries. There were just some scars and irritation here and there (which she quickly healed) and then she was done. She rechecked their arm sockets again. She had done everything she could. Now they only needed a transplant.

Sakura quickly moved her hands away from her teammates and was about to stand when a voice called her once again.

“Sakura, I know I did many things wrong, but I really am sorry… I know I can never take back what I did to you or the dobe…but I really wish for you to forgive me and to become Team 7 again…” Sasuke said. He was having a really hard time telling her all of this. After all, he was not to shown many emotions, but he wanted her to forgive him. Even if Sakura was annoying at times, he still cared for her.

“Sorry? Is that all you can offer? I’m sorry Sasuke-kun, but you tried to kill me, Naruto AND Kakashi- sensei multiple times and stabbed us in the back at the end. I don’t need or want your sorry.” Sakura said, sending Sasuke a glared that could kill.

“Sakura-chan, I know your angry, but at least listen to him, I want Team 7 to be a family again, you guys are my only family…” Naruto said a look of anguish on his face.

Sakura’s heart went for the blond. He really was an idiot for forgiving Sasuke so easily, but she had literally felt his heart during the war and knew that he meant every word. He really wanted Team 7 to be a family again and she wasn’t going to come in the way of his dreams. She was going to protect them after all.

After a few minutes of thinking over the situation, she sighed. She finally made up her mind of what exactly to tell Sasuke.

“I…I’m not saying that I will forget everything you did to me or Team 7-,” Sakura started with a look of determination on her face, she could almost laugh at the look of anticipation in both of her teammates faces, “-but I will let you catch up with everything you missed since you left.  You are part of Team 7 after all…you idiot.” Sakura’s voice broke toward the end and a small tear rolled down her check.

Sasuke gave her a small smile, as a sign of thanks while Naruto gave her one of his signature smiles.

 _They really are idiots_ , Sakura thought.

Looking back, she gave Kakashi a sign to come closer. Kakashi walked over to his original team and sat down next to Sakura.

“Team 7 is back for good- ttebayo!” Naruto exclaimed, trying to move his right arm for a hug and noticing it was missing.

Sakura quickly caught on what he wanted to do and knowing how the two blocks of ice to her left where, she quickly grabbed Kakashi and using her strength pulled him down with her and ‘hugged the two boys.’

She felt Kakashi trying to sit up, but she kept his hold on him.

“We are finally together again-,” Sakura said a huge and goofy smile on her face.  Tightening her hold on her teanmates, “and we will always be Team 7.”

That’s when she felt Kakashi hugged the rest of them back. She could tell that as much as he wanted to keep his cool façade, he was happy as well. She didn’t know the details about his past team, but she wasn’t stupid and knew that half his team had died and his best friend had caused the war. He probably felt like he had made the same mistake when Sasuke left and now that they were together he had finally mended things.

 Even Sasuke looked happy to be together once again.

The hug lasted a few more seconds until Sakura and Kakashi quickly stood up and helped their two male teammates as well. Sakura watched as they both joined their only hands left and made a weird jutsu.

If she had paid any more attention, she would have noticed a small tear running down her sensei’s cheeks.

* * *

“Hinata!” The white eyed girl quickly looked up into the distance as she saw her two teammates, Kiba and Shino running toward her.

“Hinata, are you okay? Are you hurt?” Kiba quickly said very concern about his female friend.

“I’m fine Kiba- kun, what about you two?” Hinata said a small smile on her face.

“We’re fine, but wasn’t it weird we came out of cocoons? I don’t remember much about how we got there, but it was strange…it was as if I was living my life in another reality. Did you guys experienced the same?”

At Kiba’s words, both Hinata and Shino nodded.

“Really?! So what did you guys dream?” Kiba asked excitedly. Before they could answer, however, he answered the question himself, “well, I dreamed I became hokage! My dream! Do you thing everyone else was also dreaming?” Kiba said, utterly confused on what happened. People don’t just come rolling off of trees!  
“It seems that the Infinite Tsukuyomi was indeed placed on us. I remember seeing a red moon before my dream. Everyone was dreaming a perfect dream,” Shino said. He was positive that is what had happened.

“I see, by the looks of it, Madara has been already defeated. Well then, what did you guys dream?” Kiba was really excited to hear his teammate’s dreams.

“I dreamt that I had become the ruler of bugs and the strongest shinobi in my clan,” Shino responded nonchatchly. He really didn’t care to share.

“I see, I see” Kiba’s eyes were gleaming with excitement at hearing Shino’s dream. His eyes suddenly turned to a very nervous and blushing Hinata.

“Hinata! What did you dream?” Kiba asked, interested on what she would say.

“Well…eto..umm,” Hinata stuttered while looking down at her feet, she really didn’t want to do this.  
“C’mon Hinata! We won’t make fun of you!” Kiba promised

“I well…dreamed that I was clan head alongside my sister and Neji-niisaan and the curse seal was over,” _and married Naruto –Kun_ Hinata said, a small smile on her face. They did not need to know the last part.

Kiba could tell she was keeping something from him, but he let it go. He would approach her about it later.

“Well, Team 8; let’s go find the rest of the Rookie 9!” Kiba screamed, leading the way.  Hinata and Shino silently followed, amused at their teammates tactics. 

Shino was simply looking ahead, not really thinking of anything.

Hinata on the other hand…

 _That dream, made me realize that I should once again tell Naruto-kun of my feelings. I told him at an inappropriate moment and made him turn into_ …

Hinata quickly shook her head to change her train of thought; she really did not want to relive that experience.

 _I will look at Naruto- kun straight in the face and tell him my feelings! I won’t hide any longer. That is my Ninja way!_ Hinata though, a determined look on her face.

* * *

“Are we all here?” a pineapple- shaped haired boy asked.

“Yup, I’m here and so is Ino, Shikamaru,” a very tall and bigger man said next to him.

“Gosh, I was having such a good dream! Tsk tsk. Anyways, where is forehead girl?” a blonde haired woman said, looking around the crowd of people coming out of cocoons. Sheesh, she has really seen weird shit in her life, but this took the top place.

 “I don’t know- , Shikamaru said, but we need to find Tsunade- Sama she probably knows more than we do right now. Let’s go Choji, Ino.”

“Alright, alright, so bossy,” Ino was really angry that she was woken up from her amazing dream. Both Sai and Sasuke had been fighting for her. But most importantly, her father was alive and well and was proud of her as she had become a very strong kunoichi.

Unaware to Ino, her other two teammates were also thinking about their own dreams.

Shikamaru was thinking about how his dad was alive and his parents were together. Yet, he couldn’t understand why she had dreamt about Temari. Troublesome woman, she bothered him even in his dreams.

While Choji thought about finally becoming clan head and proving the whole village of his strength while at the same time finding a girl who loved him for him and did not care about his weight.

Team 10 decided to push their dreams to the back of their minds and keep moving forward.

* * *

 

“Where is Temari?” a young red haired man asked. He had been looking for Temari for the last five minutes and yet there was no sign of her.

“Be patient, there are a lot of people here,” a man with purple tattoos on his face said next to him.

“I know, Kankuro, but she may be hurt.” The young Kazekage retaliated; he also needed to find Naruto.

“There she is” Kankuro said as he waved at his older sister, signaling for her to come over.

“I was looking everywhere for you guys, are you okay?” Temari asked after catching her breath, checking her brothers for any injuries and furrowing her eyebrows in thought.

“No, we’re fine Temari” Kankuro said, easing his older sister out of her worries.

“What was that about?” Temari was not sure why she had come out of a cocoon, but she did remember having a dream with a certain pineapple- shaped haired man.

“We were on Uchiha Madara’s infinite Tsukuyomi, a kind of dream like genjutsu. By the looks of it, he must have been defeated” Gaara said a little upset that he had woken out of his dream.

“I see, well what did you dream?” a curious Kankuro asked. He had dreamed about becoming the ultimate puppeteer and he was sure his brother and sister had dreamed of something interesting.

“Nothing” Gaara and Temari said in unison with bored expressions on their faces.

Kankuro was going to ask again until he noticed then walking away from him.

“Hey, Hey! I’m talking to you!” Kankuro called after them.

“We need to find the Kages and Naruto, let’s go,” Gaara said, Temari trailing behind him.

Kankuro simply sighed and followed them, still thinking about his dream.

Temari was doing a great job at hiding her own thoughts. She went back to her own dream where she had become the best kunoichi in the world. She understood that, but she didn’t understand why Shikamaru has been at her side. That lazy ass pestered her even in her dreams!

Gaara just kept walking, trying to detect one of the Kages chakra, but to no avail. He was too thinking about his dream; a dream where he grew up with a loving family, a dream where he had friends that care about him, a dream where he wasn’t a monster.

* * *

 

“There you are my dear student!” a man in a green jumpsuit exclaimed.

“Gai-sensei!” a younger man dresses identically to the older one yelled back. Running to him and hugging him with the power of youth.

“Lee are you okay” Where is Ten-Ten?” Gai asked, looking over his student for any injuries as well as trying to find his only female student.

“I’m fine Gai- sensei! I have no idea where Ten- Ten is” Lee said, a little upset that he had no idea where his teammate was.

“Well, let’s go find her!” Gai exclaimed, quickly running toward the crowd.

“Wait for me, Gai-sensei!!!!” Lee yelled as he quickly trailed behind his teacher.

“TEN-TEN WHERE ARE YOUUU!!!!!!!!!” Both Lee and Gai screamed.

“Dammit, those two are so embarrassing,” a young female voice whispered to herself as she ran toward her two idiotic teammates. The people around her laughing at her teammates yelling.

“I’m here now, no need to worry I- “Ten-Ten started until she was interrupted.

“Ten-Ten my dear student, are you okay!!!?” Gai exclaimed as he picked his female student and spin her around the battle field where many soldiers were either laughing at him or feeling sorry for Ten-Ten.

“I’m fine, Gai-sensei, can you let me down” Ten-Ten said in a very irritated voice as she tried to get loose from Gai’s choking hugs.

“Alright, I’m glad,” Gai said as she finally let her down.

“Gai- sensei, what happened?” Lee asked a curious look on his face.

“It seems that we were placed in Madara’s infinite Tsukuyomi,” Gai started, taking on a serious look. He noticed the looked of shock and confusing on his students faces and further explained. “It’s a sort of complicated genjutsu where you are in dream-like state, a perfect world.”

Looking back at the moon, Gai noticed that it was no longer the reddish color it was before he was trapped in the genjutsu. The moon was slowly turning back to its original light yellow color.

“It seems that the genjutsu was cancelled and Madara defeated” _No doubt by my rival and Team 7_ , Gai thought, a proud look on his face.

“I see,” Lee couldn’t believe it.

After a few minutes, Lee couldn’t take the excitement and decided to blurt out his curious question.

“What did you dream Gai-sensei?” Lee finally asked curiosity stretched on his face.

“Well, Lee, I dreamed that I had finally defeated my rival with the power of youth and that you, Ten-Ten and…Neji were cheering me on as always!” Gai exclaimed, his voice lowering and cracking at the mention of Neji.

This did not go unnoticed by Lee and Ten-Ten, they had also dreamed with Neji, but they decided not to bring it up.

“I dreamt that I defeated all my enemies with…yeah and Sakura-san was my girlfriend!” Lee exclaimed, going back to his amazing dream.

“What about you, my dear youthful female student?” Gai asked

“I dreamed that I was the best kunoichi in the world! Even stronger than Tsunade- Sama and was traveling the world with you, Lee and well… yeah, pretty nice huh?” Ten-Ten answered, her mood suddenly worsening at the mere thought of her dead teammate.

“I see very youthful dreams indeed!  Well, we have to go find Tsunade- Sama, let’s go,” Gai said as he started to walk toward the center of the battlefield.

“Hai!” both Lee and Ten-Ten said I unison, walking behind their sensei.

Lee noticed that Ten-Ten was not feeling well. She had a saddened expression on her face and it killed him to see her so depressed. He may be goofy sometimes, but he could tell something was wrong. He had a pretty good idea why she was sad, but he didn’t want her to be down about it.

“Ten-Ten are you okay?” Lee whispered loud enough for only Ten-Ten to hear.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thank you Lee.” Ten-Ten answered back

Lee could feel his teammate was really sad toward Neji’s death. He decided to do something he had never done before…he held her hand.

“Lee!” Ten-Ten said a small blush appearing on her face.

“Huh?” Lee said, sincerely confused at why his teammate was red and appeared angry. Maybe she was coming up with a cold?

“Ah, nothing” Ten-Ten said, giving up and instead appreciating the sign of affection. Lee was annoying, but she knew he had a good heart.

Looking back at Lee’s happy expression directed at her, she couldn’t help giving him a small smile back and a light squeeze to his hand.

Unknown to them, a certain youthful teacher was smirking at his two students left.

_Neji what would you have dreamed?_

* * *

 

“Have you located Naruto-kun?” a dark haired woman asked her life-long teacher.

“I have already summoned Katsuyu, I have a feeling Sakura is with them, so she should be reporting back to me soon.” a very tired looking hokage said.

“Hai, Tsunade- Sama…” Shizune answered back, she really hoped that Sakura and the rest of Team 7 were okay.

“Don’t worry, Shizune, I have confidence in Team 7’s ability, I’m sure their fine” _They defeated Madara Uchiha after all_ Tsunade answered, a smile on her face; u _nless that Uchiha brat betrayed them again, Tsunade_ though, her smile quickly dropping.

Shizune could only sigh, she knew her master too well. She knew Tsunade was thinking about that Sasuke kid. _Sakura please be safe,_ Shizune thought with a solemn expression on her face.

Suddenly a cloud of smoke appeared before them.

“Katsuyu, have you found Team 7? Sakura?” Tsunade asked, she was really trying to calm herself, but Sakura (like Shizune) had become like her daughter and Naruto reminder her too much of Jiraiya.

“Yes, Tsunade- sama, the little slug started, preparing herself for what was to come, their fine, but…”

“Get on with it, Katsuyu!” Tsunade exclaimed. Well, she was known for her temper…

Katsuyu and Shizune didn’t even flinch; they knew Tsunade’s temper by now.

“Hai, Tsunade- Sama, I found them okay, but Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun have lost one arm each.” Katsuyu said, awaiting her master’s response.

“They what!? When I see them I will break the arms they have left!

Shizune looked on to her master, a worried expression on her face.

Did they lose their entire arms?!!! Tsunade asked, worried laced in her voice.

“I’m afraid so, Tsunade-same,” the slug said with a saddened expression.

“That procedure can take up to an hour to heal; I need to get their quick before they die!” Tsunade exclaimed, about to run off until Katsuyu stopped her.

“Tsunade- sama, it seems Sakura-san has taken care of that. She healed them in less than twenty minutes,” Katsuyu explained.

“Sakura healed them?!!” Tsunade exclaimed a shock expression on her face.

“Yes and it seems that she did an excellent job as well, both of them would be able to get transplants with no problems. Team 7 is now coming back and they will soon be here, “ Katsuyu said happily. She was really proud of Sakura.

“Tsunade- Sama, you couldn’t have healed them this quick, it takes extreme chakra control to heal two people at the same time as well as a lot of chakra to try to mend the nerve ending in the arm sockets in order to place transplants. Based on Katsuyu’s explanation…it seems Sakura was able to do all of that while she had lost most of her chakra during the war,” Shizune explained.

“Tsk, it seems that brat has finally surpassed me,” Tsunade said, a proud smile plastered on her, “When would they get here?”

“SHANNAROOOOO!!!!!” 

“I think they are here,” Shizune winced as she could hear Sakura in the distance.

“Ouch, Sakura-Chan why you hit me- ttebayo?”

“Because you are moving too much, you are going to open your wound!”

“Yup, that’s them, “Tsunade explained walking toward them.

She could see all of Team 7 walking toward her. Kakashi was simply walking back holding that damn perverted book, the Uchiha brat was walking like he owned the world with his only hand left on his pocket, Sakura was walking beside him with a very irritated look on her face and her hand on Naruto’s hair who was simply whining at her to let loose. It seems he was doing something idiotic…again.

“I see Team 7 is back once again,” Tsunade said as she finally reached them, particularly looking at a certain dark haired Uchiha.

“Yes, Tsunade-sama, we are,” Sakura said with a small smile on her face.

“I see…I assume you guys defeated Madara?” Tsunade asked.

“Actually, there was one more enemy, but I wish to talk to you in private of that later along with the rest of the original Team 7 if you don’t mind,” Kakashi said, noticing that Gai was running toward him in the distance.

“Alright, we would talk about that later, Hatake,” Tsunade said.

Tsunade looked back on everyone else and decided to signal them of their victories. She could see the other Kages waiting for her to make an announcement as well.

“ALRIGHT LISTEN EVERYONE!” Tsunade exclaimed, all heads turn to her to await her indications.

“The war against Madara Uchiha has gone in our favor, the individuals you see next to me-“Tsunade said as she signaled toward Team 7 “-are the heroes of the Fourth Shinobi War.”

“Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and…Uchiha Sasuke are the heroes of this war!”

Team 7 just looked on as the crowd before them cheered their names.

Kakashi was looking as bored as ever, Sakura had a little blush on her face, Sasuke just looked on and Naruto had the biggest smile on his face. He was acknowledged by the whole shinobi world.

Tsunade looked on and quickly found Orochimaru’s face. She was thinking of something and she wanted to have Orochimaru agree with her, Jiraiya wasn’t here to do it.

Orochimaru seemed to read her mind and quickly nodded his approval.

“Alright, listen up, I have an announcement to make,” Tsunade once again looked back at the crowd as they quieted down.

She quickly walked to Kakashi and whispered something in his ear; making him move right next to her.

“From this day on, I announce that Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, for their participation in this war and the excellence in their abilities passing that of even myself, they will now be recognize and to be the new legendary Sannin!” Tsunade exclaimed as a proud smile appeared in her face.

She quickly turned toward the three said individuals to see a comical sight in front of her.

Sakura had her mouth wide open with her eyes as huge as saucers, Sasuke had an eyebrow raised with his eyes slightly widened and Naruto…well, he looked just like Sakura, but with his eyes even wider.

Before they could speak against her wishes, Tsunade turned around toward the cheering crowd of shinobi again.

“Alright, shall we go back to our respective villages?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright phew, that was a lot of writing. I know this chapter may not be very interesting, but I felt like it should be included. This is what I thought were the flaws (in my opinion) of chapter 699:  
> 1\. Sakura forgiving Sasuke too easily. A ‘I’m sorry’ is not really good enough after you tried to kill someone and their friends through half the series. Based on Sakura’s growth in part 2, I would have thought she would forgive him only due to Naruto and then later on forgive him on her own. By forgiving him about everything he done by a simple ‘sorry’ her character development went back to a little girl who forgave Sasuke for everything he did. I decided to change it and keep her respect intact.
> 
> 2\. I hated that there was no Rookie 9 interaction with each other or their dreams. I know many of them are side characters, but I still think they should have been included. So I decided to have them interact in this chapter. I just think their interactions would have further demonstrated their bonds especially for Team 8 (since we don’t get that many in the manga) and Gai’s Team (they need to have some sort of interaction after Neji’s death, right?).
> 
> 3\. Lee and Ten-Ten’s interactions. I felt like in the manga they should have bonded more since Neji had died. I know Lee cried, but I felt like Ten-Ten didn’t show much of an emotion toward his death. I only saw her getting angry at the rest of his teammates and saying “why did Neji leave me with these two” which I though was just a horrible lack of emotion. I decided to fix it here.
> 
> 4\. As you can see I changed many of their dreams or tweaked them in some way. Many of the girls dreams were shallow (seriously you just dreamed about a guy that you liked?) so I decided to make them dream about their own careers and future plans. 
> 
> 5\. Everyone’s own resolution and determination toward their dreams and future actions. I believe many of the Rookies dreams will impact their future actions. For example, Hinata confessing to Naruto after dreaming of them together. I wanted the characters to reflect on their own dreams and use those reflections to change their real lives.
> 
> Thank You for reading! Please write a review to let me know your own opinion about this chapter!
> 
> ~See ya!


	2. After the War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I was able to update in about a week. I will be trying to update as much as possible. I already have the summary for the first 10 chapters, but I still have not wrote them in detail. Anyways, this chapter is kind of short compared to the first one, so I wanted to ask if you guys preferred:
> 
> Shorter chapters= faster update
> 
> Longer chapters=slower update
> 
> Let me know in the comments on what you think!
> 
> On with the story!

“Now that everything is settled, why don’t you tell me about this new enemy that appeared after Madara?” Tsunade said as she quickly sat in her desk at the hokage’s meeting room.  

Kakashi, Tsunade, the five kages and the rest of Team 7 were currently in the office talking about the sudden change of events during the war.

Kakashi and Team 7 were sitting in the middle of the room while the five kages were sitting in a long desk facing them.

“Tsunade-sama, as we were fighting Madara, Black Zetsu seemed to consume him. Eventually revealing a women with a Byakugan. Based on my conversation with Hagoromo, the sage of six paths, it seems that she was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, the first human to wield chakra and the mother of Hagoromo and Hamura,” Kakashi explained with a serious look on his face.

“Naruto and Sasuke were the ones who were mostly fighting her while me and Sakura acted as backup and then later we-“ Kakashi was rudely interrupted by a harsh and cold laugh.

There was a dead silence in the room until Oonoki started laughing once again.

“You expect me to believe you guys spoke to the sage of six paths? Give me a break this is no game, Hatake Kakashi, we hope you are telling us the truth,” Oonoki said as his laughed started to die off and instead it started being replaced by distrust. “I have been alive many years, no one could have defeated Madara so easily.”

“Oonoki-san,” Gaara started with a frown on his face, “I think we should respect the people who saved us from the infinite Tsukuyomi.”

“I’m not usually one to agree with Oonoki, but I find it hard to believe you spoke with Hagoromo,” Ei said with a tired look on his face. He really needed to retire.

“There is no reason not to believe them, after all they are the only ones who were not under the jutsu, we have to take their word for it,” Mei said with a worried look on her face. She wanted to believe the people who saved the shinobi world, but it was proving to be too difficult.

“Kakashi, I hope you are not making this up as this is a Kage meeting, we have no time for absurdities,” Tsunade said with a stern look on her face.

Kakashi simply looked on. He was too tired to explain to everyone what had happened. After all, there was no reason for him to lie.

“Tsunade-bachan, we are not lying Hagoromo gave me the Six Paths Sage Mode and the Yang seal and gave Sasuke-teme the Rinnegan and the Yin seal when we fell unconscious in order to help us win the war and seal Kaguya,” Naruto said with a serious expression on his face.

“Naruto…” Tsunade started, but was cut off by Sakura.

“Tsunade-shishou, it’s true, Naruto was on the verge of death, but was able to be safe after Hagoromo-san gave him that chakra. I could sense Sasuke-kun was also on the brink of death before suddenly reviving with a surge of chakra. I could sense both of their chakra irregularities. They were the ones who sealed Kaguya,” Sakura said with exasperation in her face. She hoped Tsunade- Sama would believe her.

“Sakura, I’m trying hard to believe this, but it’s difficult. After all, is hard to imagine the sage of six paths actually existing. Even if it was true it would be impossible for you guys to defeat his mother, which based on your explanations, seems to be stronger than him,” Tsunade said with a solemn expression. She really wanted a shot of sake. Perhaps she can reschedule the meeting for later?

“Tsunade-bachan-“Naruto stated before being interrupted.

“Naruto, that’s enough,” Sasuke sighed as he stood up from his chair. He really had enough of these kages.

“Look, I  know it may sound strange, but if you guys don’t believe me then I can simply show you what happened with my sharingan,” Sasuke stated as a small smirk appeared on his face as he watched the horrified faces of the kages.

“Hell no, Uchiha, I refuse to see into the eyes of another sharingan user after the Madara shit,” Tsunade states as she took out a bottle of sake. She had reached her limit and was going to take a shot every time someone talked. She hoped that she was wasted by the end of this shit show and based on the looks on the other kages (besides Garaa) it seems she was not the only one who wanted that.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Gaara finally spoked up after analyzing the situation, “I don’t know about the rest of the kages, but I wish to prevent this in the future and the only way to do that is to learn from the past,” Garaa said with a wistful look on his face.

“Alright, but we need someone who is skilled in genjutsu in order to prevent any abnormalities in Sasuke’s tale,” Tsunade said looking at Sakura with a small smirk. She wanted to test her student’s skills in genjutsu. Didn’t Kakashi say she excel in them?

“If that’s what you want, then so be it,” Sasuke said. He knew he could trick pretty much everyone in the room if he wanted to with his sharingan except Kakashi and Sakura. After all, Kakashi is an expert in genjutsu and Sakura has the ability to detect S-rank genjutsu. He was actually surprised when Sakura didn’t detect the genjutsu she was placed under in order to prevent her from getting in the way with his fight with Naruto.

“Tsunade-sama, as much as I would like to help I’m not able to detect abnormalities in high level genjutsu,” Sakura said looking at the floor.

“Sakura, you and Kakashi would be doing it and I expected you learned something from those classes you took with Kurenai,” Tsunade said after taking her third shot.

“C’mon Sakura-chan you can do it!-ttebayo!” Naruto cheerily cheered his pink-haired teammate.

“Alright, alright,” Sakura sighed, giving up.

“Alright, Sasuke, do your thing,” Kakashi announced as he stood up placed his hands on Sasuke’s shoulders. Sakura, nervous of herself, also stood up and was unsure where to put her hands until Sasuke abruptly took hers in his and opened his sole eye.

To say Sakura was surprised was an understatement. With a small blush in her face she held onto Sasuke’s hands and transferred her chakra along with Kakashi to Sasuke to present any changes in his chakra should he try to trick the kages.

Unknown to her, Naruto was looking up at their entwined hands with a small look of sadness and jealousy in his face.

Sasuke suddenly realizing his stare, turned around to see Naruto and gave him a small smirk, mouthing the words, “do something about it, dobe.”

Naruto, surprised, widened his eyes at what Sasuke was implying. Did Sasuke like…? No, it couldn’t be, Sasuke must be teasing him or something. He was an asshole after all.

Naruto quickly recovered and decided to be the mature one this time and simply flipped him off and mouthed “teme.”

Once Sasuke had activated his sharingan, all the kages looked at him for a couple of minutes with blank expressions. Sakura and Kakashi could also see what Sasuke was showing in order to monitor him. After a couple of minutes, the kages came back from their trance and stared at each other.

“Sakura, Kakashi…Did he..?” Tsunade started only to be interrupted right away by Sakura.

“No, Tsunade-shishou, there was no irregularities in his chakra. He was showing you guys the truth…” Sakura answered as calmly as she could while staring as Sasuke’s sharingan.

Sasuke’s eyes went back to normal while Kakashi took his hands away from his shoulders. As Sakura was about to take her hands off of Sasuke’s, she noticed a strong grip that would not let her go. Leaning in, Sasuke whispered in her ear, “I need to talk to you after this meeting, meet me in the Team 7 training grounds after this.” Letting go of her hands, Sasuke simply shoved his hands in his pockets and pretended nothing happened.

Sakura, flustered went back to stand next to Kakashi.

Once again, Sasuke looked to Naruto with a small smirk on his face. Noticing Naruto looking down, Sasuke quickly dropped his smirk. _That idiot, no wonder Sakura is clueless to his feelings. Well, if he is not going to confess…I guess I should do something about it._ Sasuke thought with an evil glint on his face.

After a few minutes of the kages silently talking amongst themselves, they decided to keep the meeting between them only.  Looking up at Team 7, Tsunade quickly shooed them out of the office and informed them that they would go over what they witnessed and come out with a conclusion on what the next step should be.

Team 7 finally walked out of the room after what seemed like hours and started to walk toward their respective homes.

“Eh…do you guys want to eat ramen as celebration?!” Naruto said excitingly.

“Naruto, I’m sorry. I can’t I have to go visit someone important,” Kakashi said with a small smile. He then quickly gave his students a small wave and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.”

“I can’t dobe, I have to talk to take care of something,” Sasuke said nonchalantly.

“Well, Sakura-chan would you like to-,” Naruto was suddenly cut off.

“Sakura has to go with me, see you later dobe,” Sasuke said as he walked off.

“Naruto I will see you later, okay? I’m sorry…” Sakura said as she looked at the blond with pity.

“It’s okay Sakura-chan, is like old times, right? You going after Sasuke even though I want you to go with me. Hahaha remember how much I asked you for dates and you would brush me off? I guess nothing has changed since then…” Naruto said as he looked down at the floor.

_Ba-dump_

_What is this feeling_? Sakura thought as she looked at Naruto as she placed her hand in her heart. _He always wanted me to go with him? What does that mean? Although, Sai did something about him loving me…_

“Naruto, what did you mean by-“

“Sakura! Let’s go before it gets darker,” Sasuke said as he went around a group of villagers who were currently cutting wood to repair their destroyed homes.

“Umm…I’m sorry Naruto I’ll see you later!” Sakura said as she sprinted to catch up to Sasuke.

“Goodbye, Sakura-chan, Naruto said as he walked the other way to Ichiraku and walked away from Haruno, Sakura.

* * *

 

“How are you feeling, Kurenai?” Kakashi asked as he sat across the black-haired women. Kurenai had not participated in the war due to her maternity leave.

“I’m fine Kakashi…Is just that I feel like I should have helped during the war…” Kurenai answered as she looked at the tea in her hands. She was seven months pregnant and knew that it was ridiculous to think she could be of any help, but she still felt responsible. What kind of ninja stayed at home during a war?

“Kurenai, I know you feel like you should have done something, but you would have been…” Kakashi stopped himself before finishing his sentence.

“What Kakashi? A liability, useless, incapable, an obstacle? What Kakashi answer me!” Kurenai suddenly stood up and slammed her hands on the table at her outburst. Damn these hormones, she was usually composed and collected, but this conversation was getting out of hand. Was Kakashi really going to tell her that she would have been useless during the war? She knew that she would get in the way during the war and may have gotten herself killed, but hearing if from someone else, especially a childhood friend, just made it worse.

“Hurt. Kurenai. I meant you could have gotten hurt or even killed, along with that child of yours.” Kakashi said calmly as he sipped on the tea Kurenai had served him a while ago. “Asuma asked me to protect you and that is exactly what I plan to do.”

Kurenai suddenly realized what he meant and sat down. Embarrassed, she answered, “I-I’m sorry Kakashi, I thought you were going to say something else. Although, who could blame you? I’m weak and could not help in anyway in the war.” Kurenai said as she stood up and walked towards the kitchen to serve herself more tea.

“No, Kurenai. You are not weak-“

“But Kakashi…”

“No please, let me finish,” Kakashi said as he finished his tea, “You are one of the best genjutsu users in the Ninja World, you are a great fighter and a women to fear. You are not weak. You are pregnant, you are going to give life. You sacrificed your love for fighting to raise your daughter and make sure she was healthy. ALONE. You are braver than any woman I know.” Kakashi said as he stood and walked towards her.

Kurenai shocked, could only look at Kakashi with her empty cup as he approached her. Did he?

“You are strong. I know it. Asuma knew it and the whole village knows it. Please don’t talk about yourself in such negative terms take care of yourself alright?” Kakashi said as he gently took the glass from Kurenai’s hands and placed it on the counter.

“Kakashi you…” Kurenai started only to be cut off by Kakashi hugging her.

“Call me if you need to talk, remember you are not alone in this.” Kakashi said as he quickly let go of Kurenai. He gave her a small wave and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

After a few minutes, Kurenai snapped out of her confusion and looked back at the empty cup on the table.

She quickly took his cup to the sink and as she washed the cup, she realized something.

_When Asuma died, Kakashi was not there. Asuma never asked Kakashi to protect me in his place, which means…_

_He is protecting me because he wants to._

“Kakashi you try to remain stoic and cold person on the outside, but I know that you are kind on the inside” Kurenai said with a small smile as she finally dried the cup and put it away.

Walking away toward her bedroom, she looked down and placed a hand on her swelling belly.

  _It seems, that we are going be seeing more of him around here, Mirai._ Kurenai thought as she lay on her bed and let sleep take her.

 

* * *

 

“Sasuke-kun, why are we here?” Sakura asked as she looked around training ground #3. This place definitely brought memories of her genin days training as well as the bell test.

“I thought it would be best to talk to you here, away from anyone who could hear,” Sasuke said as he looked around. How long has it been since he last set foot here?

“Well, what did you want to talk about? If it’s about forgiving you, I still have not done it and I only told you I would trust you because of Naruto-“ Sakura was suddenly interrupted by Sasuke’s snort.

“Naruto, huh? When did he become so important in your decisions? In your life? I thought you said he was a nuisance. Do you really care more about his feelings than me?” Sasuke calmly stated, trying to hide the feelings of inferiority and jealousy he had towards Naruto. That dobe was in his ways even…even with Sakura.

“I changed a lot since we last seen each other!” Sakura snapped at Sasuke, “of course you would have known have you been here! Also, why do you even care about me forgiving you? You could care less!”

“Sakura, the past is the past, I’m now-“ Sasuke started, trying to evade her second question.

“Changed? Do you regret what you have done? I don’t care if you have changed. I do not forgive as easily as Naruto and I don’t care what your reasons were for you leaving the village, I-“

“Why don’t I show you why I did it, then? Do you want to know why I left the village? I will show you” Sasuke said as his features turned darker. He tried to keep himself calm and composed. Sakura was the only one who had this effect on him. Damn her.

He harshly grabbed her and made her looked into his eyes.

“I would show you the curse of the Uchiha. The hell that I have lived in all my life.”

“Sasuke-kun, I- “

And with that, Sasuke activated his sharingan

As she looked at him and let the genjutsu consumed her, Sakura quickly started to lose her will to fight against him.

Suddenly a piercing scream could be heard through her head and as she opened her eyes, Sakura noticed that the only thing she could see was the shape of the sharingan.

As she stood up, the scenery in the genjutsu changed to that of the outskirts of Kohoha. Looking up, Sakura could see two tall walls with the Uchiha symbol in the middle.

_Where I’m I?_

“You are in the Uchiha compound on July 3rd, the day we entered the academy and the day my clan was massacred by my older brother, Uchiha Itachi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,
> 
> Sorry of the chapter a little bit boring. It was more of a transition chapter. As you could tell the next chapter would be about the Uchiha massacre and Sakura learning about Sasuke’s past.
> 
> Also, sorry if any of the characters are a little out of character. Especially Sasuke, man that guy is hard to write. I wonder how exactly he proposed to Sakura in the manga, must have been extremely awkward.
> 
> Please leave reviews! Like I said, I will try to update at least once a week.


	3. Chapter 3- The Uchiha Massacre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys,  
> Sorry I was not able to update last week. I had a test and was studying all day. Anyways, here is chapter 3. Chapter 4 will probably be up by Wednesday or next Friday.

"The Uchiha Massacre? What are you talking about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said with a hint of fear in her face. Is he going to read her thoughts all the time?

"Sasuke-kun? Where are you?" Sakura said as she looked around for Sasuke, but found him to be missing.

Panicking, Sakura asked once again, "Where I'm I?"

"You are in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Sakura," Sasuke stated as he appeared right next to Sakura. "In this world you would be able to see everything that I wish to show you…in this case, my memories."

"Your memories?" Sakura said as she once again looked around. She could smell something rotting and for some reason had a very heavy pressure on her chest.

"Well, shall we began?" Sasuke said as the door with the Uchiha crest suddenly opened. Revealing what was inside.

Sakura almost vomited at the site.

Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Bodies of men, women and children were spread all around the Uchiha compound. There was blood everywhere and even though Sakura was a medic, she couldn't stand the sight or smell of the scene.

She knew she was in a genjutsu, but it felt so real. She felt lightheaded.

"Sasuke-kun, let me out of this genjutsu! I don't want to see anymore!" Sakura said as she quickly took her eyes away from the scene. This was too much.

"You wanted to know my reasoning behind leaving the village, right? This is it. The show has not even started, yet." Sasuke said with a bored expression on his face.

"Aniki!"

Sakura suddenly turned to Sasuke with a questioning look on her face. That voice was…

"Aniki! Ka-san, Oto-san! I passed! I'm in the academy!"

"Ah, so the show has finally started," Sasuke said nonchalantly, however Sakura registered a flash of pain in his eyes.

"Aniki?" A young Sasuke said as he finally reached the compound. A stench of blood had reached his nostrils, but he decided to ignore it.

Looking around, he noticed all the bodies on the ground.

"What-what is this? Who did this?" little Sasuke said as he started to shiver.

Walking around, he noticed his aunt and cousin on the floor, dead.

"Oba-san? Itoko?" little Sasuke asked as he leaned on the floor and started to shake them.

"Oba-san! Itoko! Wake-up, please!"little Sasuke screamed as his pleads were in vain. Deciding trying to wake them up was useless. He removed his hands from his boding and wiped the inshed tears in his eyes. Standing up, he quickly remembered his own family.

Aniki, ka-san, oto-san…

Running, he quickly went in the direction of his own home which was in the middle of the compound.

Sakura was in too much of a trance to even notice she was moving on her own.

"What is going?" Sakura asked as she snapped out of her trance.

"We are going to follow him of course" Sasuke said as he walked along side Sakura.

"When they finally reached the compound, she noticed little Sasuke hesitant to open the door.

"Oto-san…Ka-san…Aniki…please, please be okay," little Sasuke pleaded as he held on to the door and leaned his head on it. Closing his eyes, he pleaded one more time before finally opening it.

The sight before him horrified him and Sakura who was looking on.

His parents, were laid on the floor, dead, after being sliced with a katana.

"Oto-san, Ka-san!" little Sasuke screamed as he started to approach his parents.

"This-this, can't be happening," Sakura said as a few tears started to form in her eyes and she hugged herself.

She finally let her tears fall when she heard his voice.

"Ah, otouto, you finally decided to come home" A dark-haired man said as he suddenly appeared from within the shadows to step over his parent's corpses.

That- that voce is of- Sakura thought as her thoughts were interrupted by the scene before her.

"Aniki! What happened? Oto-san and Ka-san were…"

"Killed? Why, yes Sasuke, they were indeed killed" Itachi said as he mocked little Sasuke.

Sasuke unaware of his brother's mockery keep rattling on as tears started to form on his eyes.

"Aniki, who did this, do you know?"

"Why, yes, little brother, I know who did it."

"Who did it Itachi? Who killed mother and father?"

"Why foolish little brother, it was me," Itachi said without a care in the world.

A loud sob was heard from Sakura

"Sakura?" Sasuke said as he looked over at Sakura who was slouched down and holding her head.

"I- I don't want to see this! This is too much, please…" Sakura said as tears cascaded from her eyes. She was not only able to see all of Sasuke's memories as if she was living them, but she could also feel the emotions and pain little Sasuke felt and…what the current Sasuke was feeling. It was too much for her.

Unaware to her, Sasuke was looking at the scene between him and his brother with clenched fists. No matter how many times he told himself his brother had been doing this against his will, he can't help but feel hate for him whenever he remembered this memory.

Looking down at Sakura crying brought a pain of guilt and nostalgia to him. He remembered how he had caused her a lot of pain during their genin days.

"Sakura, just…just wait a little bit longer. I need you to see this," Sasuke said as he looked on. He didn't want to cause his teammate anymore pain that he already had, but…he needed somebody to know exactly what happened that night. Naruto knew the details, but he has never shown anyone, but Sakura, what happened that night.

"I'll try…"Sakura stated with a defeated look on her face as she composed herself. She looked back to the scene.

"Aniki…why are you lying? Mother and father were killed by someone!" little Sasuke screamed.

"Are you really that foolish, little brother? Well, I guess I'll have to convince you," Itachi said as he activated his sharingan.

The whole scenery changed to that of the Infinite Tsukuyomiwithin Itachi.

What Sakura saw horrified her and she was sure was going to haunt her for the rest of her life.

Itachi was shown killing all of his clan without a trance of guilt or mercy. What made it even worse, where the constant screams of little Sasuke…and the constant sounds of pain coming from Sasuke to her left.

As soon as it came, the Infinite Tsukuyomi was over and they were both back in the compound.

"No- I" Little Sasuke started, but was interrupted by the sickening feeling in his stomach. He looked at his older brother and suddenly emptied his stomach.

"Aniki…why? Why did you do this?" little Sasuke asked as he laid on the floor next to his mother, letting all of his contained tears out.

"Why, to test my strength of course. I'm an ANBU captain, considered the strongest in Konoha. If I'm able to massacre the most powerful clan in Konoha by myself, then nothing can stop me," Itachi said as a smirk formed on his face.

Sasuke, overcome with immense fear for his own beloved older brother, stood up and started running out the compound.

Of course, Sasuke and Sakura followed suit.

"Why, why would he do this? Your own brother-" Sakura was suddenly interrupted as she came to a halt due to the younger Sasuke tripping and falling to the ground.

"Ouch," little Sasuke said as he began to stand up to continue running, but was stopped as his older brother jumped in front of him.

"Otouto, where are you going?" Itachi said in a sickly sweet voice.

"Why! Why did you kill them? Why didn't you kill me if you wanted to get rid of the whole clan?" little Sasuke demanded.

"You? Why would I waste my energy in killing someone as weak as you? You couldn't even put much of a fight," Itachi said as he looked as his younger brother with a smug look on his face.

That looked was quickly replaced with a momentary look of shock as his eyes widened.

Sasuke had stood up and he had, he…

Activated his sharingan

So it's true…those files in Tsunade-sama's office were correct. The sharingan is a kekkei genkai that is awakened by the Uchiha when experiencing strong emotion…The jutsu that conveys feelings…Sakura thought with a solemn expression on her face as she went back to the scene before her.

"I will avenge them!" Sasuke said as he looked at his brother dead in the eyes.

"Really? You really think you are strong enough to take on me otouto? Don't make me laugh, you are pathetic," Itachi said in a mocking tone.

"I will become stronger to defeat you," Sasuke said as he glared at his older brother with all the hate he had developed for him

"Then…become stronger Sasuke, fight, cling to life and live, so that one day, you can kill me and avenge the clan," Itachi said as he looked at Sasuke with a hint of guilt that both the young and current Sasuke failed to detect. Sakura, however, quickly noticed it.

Sasuke-kun, did you really lived through this? Sakura thought with a saddened expression on her face.

"I will become powerful, so that one day…I will avenge my clan," Sasuke said as venom driped from his voice. Looking up at his older brother, he quickly threw a shurinken that managed to know off his Konoha forehead protector.

"I will avenge-" little Sasuke was interrupted as he closed his eyes and fainted due to the mental exhaustion he went through.

Before the scene ended, Sasuke and Sakura saw how Itachi turned around to pick up his forhead protector and slashed through it. Once Itachi placed it on himself once again, he turned around and shed a tear. Then he left the compound without another word.

He was crying? Sakura thought as she looked at the scene, unable to shed anymore tears.

Sasuke was too occupied in his own thoughts to notice his only female teammate next to him thinking.

Itachi…he looked guilty because of what happened. He shed tears for his brother's démise…a monster does not cry for his actions or the pain he has caused others…maybe he had another reason to do what he did? Sakura thought as she went over the possibilities of Itachi acting the way he did.

Then she remembered how the third Shinobi world war was started by Obito who turned out to be a misunderstood man who have only done what he did due to love and manipulation.

"Sasuke-kun, Itachi didn't commit those crimes in order to test himself, did he?"

Sasuke's eyes widened as he turned to look at her. How did she?

"Based on the fact that he was crying, he must have had a very strong reason to do what he did and sparing you only means you were the only thing he couldn't kill. Advising you to cling to life and kill him one day, almost…almost as he wanted you to bring him peace and closure to the clan," Sakura said as she analyzed the situation.

Sasuke, still shocked just looked at Sakura. She was able to see right through Itachi in one minute.

It took me 7 years of my life and Itachi telling me the truth to even believe the story, but you Sakura, are able to understand people's feelings just like Naruto. I wonder…were you able to look through me as well? Sasuke though as he looked at Sakura with awed.

"Sakura, I really do lo-" Sasuke stated, without thinking, only to be interrupted.

"Sasuke-kun did Itachi tell you anything else?" Sakura said as she looked towards Sasuke with slight worry in her eyes.

Sasuke, suddenly aware of what he was about to say, nodded and changed the scenery once again with his sharingan.

The scenario changed to that of a coughing Itachi with a Susanoo and weak Sasuke leaning against a wall with an Uchiha symbol on it.

"This is-"

"It is when I fought my brother in one of the Uchiha clan's hideouts" Sasuke answered before Sakura could finish her question

"ack, ack, huh"

Sakura suddenly looked up to Itachi as he started to cough blood

Tuberculosis? Sakura thought as she furrowed her eyebrows. He was sick?

Itachi started to walk towards a hurt Sasuke as his Susanoo quickly banished due to his lack of chakra.

With short steps, Itachi finally reached Sasuke and with a poke to his forehead, said

"Thank you, Sasuke"

With that Itachi fainted and hit the fall behind him, falling to the floor as his eyes lost their life and became dull.

Sakura could only look with a hint of pity in her eyes at Itachi. When she looked at the smirking Sasuke, however, her pity turned to anger. Why did she have the feeling Itachi was also a victim?

After a few minutes, the Sasuke in the genjutsu also fainted and fell to the floor.

"Sasuke-kun?"

Once again the scenery changed to that of Sasuke tied up and looking up at a man with an orange, swirling mask.

"Obito?" Sakura asked shocked as she looked at the man

"At the time I did not know who he was nor did I care, he…showed me the truth," Sasuke said next to her.

"Do you want to hear what happened to the Uchiha clan, Sasuke-kun? After all, it is too weird that the brother that loved you for so long suddenly decided to kill his entire clan, right?" Obito said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Tch, just tell me whatever you want to tell me, I could care less, anyways…" Sasuke said as he had an indifferent look on his face.

"Very well, what if I told you Itachi did not massacre the Uchiha because he wanted to, but because Konoha ordered him to?" Obito said. Unaware to both Sasuke and Sakura, a small smirked had formed on the men's face.

Please, no, Sakura thought as she looked at the scene before her. Konoha...the third hokage would never-

"What are you talking about? My brother massacred my entire clan because he wanted to prove himself that he was strong enough to do so!" Sasuke said with irritation as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No, Sasuke, Itachi was given a mission to kill the Uchiha clan after the Uchiha wanted to start a coup'et ta after being isolated from Konoha for so long."

"Liar, Liar!" Sakura yelled, Konoha would never do such a thing.

To her left, Sasuke was silent. He was so naiver back then and even though he would not try to destroy Konoha, he can't stop the feeling of anger that suddenly consumed his heart at the sight before him. Even he couldn't believe the cruelty the village had towards one of their own.

On cue, the old Sasuke responded, "don't make excuses for him! Konoha would have never ordered such a thing!" A tired Sasuke screamed as he looked at Tobi.

"Ah, but they did. You see, Konoha was afraid of the Uchiha clan and what they were able to do. They were the most powerful clan in the village. Not to mention, the Uchiha were in charge of the Konoha police force. They were deems too powerful and thus, a threat. Konoha needed somebody from the inside to keep track of what the Uchiha were doing at all times. And of course, there was an Uchiha ANBU captain that was very loyal to his village…"

No, Sakura and old Sasuke thought in unison.

"They used Itachi's love for the village and had him as a spy towards the Uchiha. The Uchiha's had already forced Itachi into doing the same. Once the village ordered Itachi to be a spy, he told his father about it and acted as a double agent. However, Itachi was pretending to be a double spy in his father's eyes when in reality, he was spying on the Uchiha clan more and was helping the village. Itachi was a pacifist after witnessing the horrors of war. The village elders used this to their advantage. Thus, Itachi knew that if the Uchiha decided to attack the village, Konoha would end in ruins and would remain vulnerable to attacks from other villages. A civil war would have turned into a full scale world war and many people would have died. "

"My father ordered him to be a spy?" He would never do that!"

"Your father was the one in charge of the attacks. He was the one who convinced the whole clan of going against Konoha. After all, he was the head of the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke widened his eyes, his father...No, it couldn't be

"You really think I would believe that? My brother wanted to test himself," the old Sasuke said as his heart started to beat really fast. It just didn't make sense.

"Oh, yeah? Then tell me Sasuke why he never killed you when you met him? Sure he beat you, but he wanted you to hate him and despise him so that one day you could redeem him and the Uchiha clan. Itachi carried the hate of the Uchiha and the village on his shoulders. However, he didn't care. He didn't care that everyone hated him, he didn't care if he died being a villain. Itachi only cared about one thing, the person that he could never kill, the person he loved until the day he died-"

No, old Sasuke thought as he looked at Tobi

"It was his precious little brother, Sasuke. He couldn't kill you," Tobi finished with a tone of- sympathy?

"How do you know? Did he tell you this?" old Sasuke said with exasperation in his voice.

I know because I lived through it. During the third shinobi world war, the Uchiha were blamed for the Kyubii attack. After all, the nine-tails was being controlled by a sharingan. The ANBU Black OPS ordered the Uchiha to relocate to the outskirts of Konoha. Isolating them completely and placing them under strict supervision. This lead to the Uchiha hating the village. As the years went on, they decided to start a coup d'etat. Itachi at the time was an ANBU captain and the clan used his position in order to spy on the village without realizing he was already spying on the Uchiha and giving his intel to the village elders. Itachi's suffering began then."

"The village…ordered him to kill them?"

"Konoha was the reason your brother suffered so much. Despite that, however, he could never get rid of his precious little brother"

"Why would he do that? Why didn't he fight with his own clan?!" old Sasuke screamed at Tobi, he just couldn't understand Itachi's motives to go against his own clan.

"Do you know the horrors of war, Sasuke? Like I said, Itachi was a pacifist and decided it was better to protect the millions of people in the village who were not at fault then to protect a couple of hundred Uchiha ninjas who knew what was going on, well as least most of them knew…" Tobi finished.

Sakura quickly flinched at his implication. The children… Sakura thought with a sorry expression on her face.

With that, the Sasuke in the memory looked down and Sakura could have sworn that his eyes watered.

"Sasuke-kun, Itachi was-" Sakura started only to be interrupted by Sasuke next to her.

"-Innocent, yes, Konoha was behind the Uchiha massacre," Sasuke finished her sentence for her with a hint of anger in his voice.

"That is why you wanted to destroy the leaf?"

"Yeah, my brother and my suffering were due to them" Sasuke said as he clenched his fists.

"Then why did he join Akatsuki? Why was he in a criminal organization?" old Sasuke asked.

"He joined Akatsuki in order to spy for them and give the intel to the village. All he did was always for the village and…you," Tobi said.

"How did he help me when he was in Akatsuki?"

"Do you really think that Danzō was going to let you live? Itachi knew Danzō was going to against his word and thus decided to threaten the him. He threatened to reveal secrets from Konoha to foreign villages if you were hurt in any way. That is why you were always safe in Konoha, Sasuke," Tobi said with slight irritation in his voice.

"Itachi…he was always protecting the village despite of what they did to him…" Sakura said as she looked down at the floor. He was truly the best ninja in existence, Sakura thought with a sad smile on her face.

To her left Sasuke had a small smile at reading her thoughts.

Once again the genjutsu changed to that of a reanimated Itachi showing Sasuke what happened during the Uchiha massacre.

"Sasuke-kun, when are we-"

"This is the last thing I want to show you, Sakura."

"But, Sasuke-kun- " Sakura interrupted by a voice.

"Why are you pushing me away? Why did you follow the orders of the village?" the Sasuke in the genjutsu said as he looked at his brother with confusion in his features.

"Sasuke, what Madara told you is not the full truth, let me show you what really happened" a reanimated Itachi said.

With that Itachi activated his sharingan.

Once again, the genjutsu changed to that of Itachi's memories that were shown to Sasuke.

"Your eye is-" A young Itachi stated before being cut short by a dark haired teenager.

"Itachi, Danzō took my right eye from me as I attempted to place him under my Kotoamatsukami, but I was able to escape before he took my other one. Take my left eye, Itachi and use it to protect the village" Uchiha Shisui said before looking down the waterfall.

"Itachi, I trust you, my dear friend…" Shisui said as he closed his eyes and with a small smile let himself fall into the waterfall.

"Shisui…" Itachi said as he looked at his best friend die before his eyes.

The memory quickly vanished and was replaced by another

"We should try to reason with them, the Uchiha's have been our allies for many generations," a tired looking hokage said as he looked at the rest of the village elders.

"The Uchiha are obviously people who we cannot trust, it is best to get rid of them, even the children!" Danzō said with a serious look on his face.

Sakura could have sworn the Itachi in the memory flinched and clenched his fists.

"Danzō, do not say that in front of Itachi!" The third Hokage, Hiruzen, said as he looked at Itachi who was bowing to them.

Once again the memory changed to that of Itachi meeting with Danzo next to a water fall with the status representing right (yin) and wrong (yang).

"You realize that the coup is inevitable? The Uchiha would not give up in their quest for power," Danzō said as he looked at Itachi with a serious look on his face.

"Did the hokage sent you?" a young Itachi said, he knew where Danzō was heading with this.

"No, I came on my own, but listen Itachi, the Uchiha will cause a civil war and despite their strength, they will all be taken down by the Black Ops units, even your little brother."

At that Itachi widened his eyes and clenched his fists lightly. Not Sasuke…

He must really love Sasuke-kun if he has that reaction, Sakura thought as she abandoned her crying demeanor and started to analyze the situation. She was also developing strong feelings of anger towards her own village…

"So you have the choice Itachi, do nothing and die along with your clan or prevent this civil war and save your little brother." Danzō said as he handed Itachi a scroll and teleported away.

Itachi decided to walked to his own home, passing the yang symbol statue, until he thought it would be better to teleport to his location. Once in his room, he read the mission reported given:

"The village of Konoha gives Uchiha Itachi the mission of eliminating the whole Uchiha clan to prevent a potential civil war. This is an S-rank mission and this mission is to be destroyed once understood" Itachi read quietly. After a few minutes, of re-reading the mission, Itachi put aside his mission scroll in his own carrying scroll and placed them away.

Itachi was about to fall asleep, when a quiet knock was heard outside his door.

"Aniki! Open up, I want to play" A young Sasuke screamed from the other side of the door.*

Itachi, quickly brushed a small tear that had escaped his eye and stood up to open the door.

Opening the door, Itachi saw his little brother holding a green, stuff dinosaur in one hand and a shurinken in the other.

"Aniki! Do you want to practice aiming? Or we can play something else if you want!" little Sasuke said as he looked up at his older brother with admiration in his eyes.

"Sorry Sasuke, maybe next time," Itachi said as he poked Sasuke in the forehead.

That poke, what does it mean? Sakura thought with a confused look on her face.

"Sasuke-kun-"

As if reading her mind, Sasuke answered her question.

"My brother was always pushing me away because he did not want me to get in the way of his plans, the poking signifies that he loves me, but…he cannot be with me at the time," Sasuke said as a small smile appeared on his face as he went back to looking at the memory before him.

"Ouch, Itachi why do you do that? You know I-" Sasuke was interrupted as Itachi brought him into a hug.

"I love you Sasuke, don't forget that, okay?" Itachi said in the verge of tears as he hugged Sasuke.

Even though 8-year old Sasuke was very confused at his older brothers acton, he let Itachi hugged him.  
"I love you too, brother!" Sasuke said as he let go of Itachi and went back to his room.

Itachi, once again went to his bed, but instead of sleeping, he heard a knock on his windowsill…

"So there is someone roaming the village..." Itchy said with suspicion as he looked into the eyes of hi black crow.

"So you are alive, Madara-san."

The memory changed to that Itachi talking to a man in a swirl mask

"What are you doing in this village? You are not to be here if the homage is not aware of your presence," Itachi said as he looked at the older man before him.

"I cam here to look, obviously, and anyways, it is not of your concern," the dark-haired man said.

"Who are you?"

"Uchiha, Madara"

"You expect to believe that?"

"Do as you wish, I came here to take revenge upon the village for turning their back on me"

At his statement, Itachi came up with a plan.

He can't defeat Madara by himself, but he can help me if I give him something in return.

"Do you want revenge on the Uchiha? I can help you, after all, they were the one's who betrayed you."

"Hum...Alright, but what are conditions?"

"You have to leave the village...and Sasuke Uchiha out of this plan."

"Your little brother, huh? Alright"

The man looked at the young Itachi with slight amusement, it was obvious he was not sure about his plan.

"You sure about this?" the man in the mask said to Itachi.

"Yes, I will take care of most of them, especially Sasuke" Itachi said with a serious look of his face.

"Obito…helped Itachi?" Sakura said as she looked at the man before him. She helped and healed a man that not only started the war, but helped in killing the Uchiha clan…Sakura was suddenly overcome with a wave of guilt. Was it right that they forgave him?

"It is not your fault, Sakura. Obito, like Itachi, was driven by the people they love…" Sasuke said as he sensed Sakura's feelings of guilt.

With a small nod, Sakura smiled lightly at him in thanks and went back to the scene.

Even though Itachi looked pretty convincing, the man in the mask did not believe him.

Obito read right through him.

"You could always fight the village instead, it's obvious you don't want to do this."

"I made my decision and it does not matter to you my reasoning behind them. Don't forget your promise of leaving the village as soon as you get your revenge on the Uchiha" Itachi said to the older man as he turned around.

With his back faced to the older man, Itachi said "We start tonight" and left the man.

The memory once again changed to Itachi behind his parents with a katana.

"I see, so you have taken their side" An older looking Uchiha men said.

"Father, I –" Itachi said before being cut off.

"Do not fear, our pain will only last a minute unlike yours" Fukagu said as he looked towards his wife.

"Just make sure to take care of Sasuke…" Fugaku said to his elder son.

"I will," Itachi said as a small tear ran down his cheek.

"You know even if we have different ideologies, I'm still proud of you…"

"You really are a kind child," Fukagu said as he could hear his elder son loudly sobbing behind him.

Itachi continued to cry and hold the sword in his shaking hands until he felt the chakra of Madara. Almost as if he was warning him to carry his mission to the end.

With a twitch of his hands, Itachi slashed Fugaku in the heart.

"Mother, I-

"Itachi, do not fear, like your father said, I'm proud of you and… I love you very much my dear son" Mikoto said as her voice cracked towards the end. "Please take care of Sasuke…"

With one final tear, Itachi slashed through his mother's chest.

"I will. I love you took, Oka-san"

Sakura could only cry silently at Itachi's sorrow. From the corner of her eye, she could see Sasuke's unshed tears.

After that memory, Itachi was showed once again walking towards Sasuke as the edo tensei started to vanish.

A shocked Sasuke could only look at his older brother.

"Maybe if I should have told you things from the beginning, everything could have been changed…perhaps you could have been the one to change the Uchiha," Itachi said as he started to walk towards Sasuke as he gently lifted his fingers.

"But no matter what you decide to do from now on, little brother-" Itachi started as he lowered his hand to bring his and Sasuke's forehead together, a smile appearing on his face,

"-I will love you forever" Itachi said as the edo tensei finally took effect and he completely vanished, but not before giving Sasuke another smile.

With that Sasuke's genjutsu vanished and Sakura suddenly found herself back in training ground #3.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm so sorry, but...why did you show me this?"

"Sakura, I wanted to show you why I left the village, all my life I was lied to. It wasn't until later that I killed my brother that I was aware of the truth. I was confused on what my role should be in the war. I had to even speak with the past hokages to ask them about the importance of a village and ninjas…"

Even though Sakura understood the reasoning behing his attitude towards her and her team, she wouldn't forgive him based on that. Naruto also had a rough childhood and yet they were nothing alike.

Why I'm I even comparing them…Sakura thought with a confused expression on her face. Finally looking back at Sasuke, she just couldn't just shake the pain he brought her and Kakashi-sensei, but most importantly, she couldn't shake the fact that Sasuke had caused Naruto so much pain.

"If you want me to forgive you for this, I will-"

"I do not expect you to forgive me based on pity, Sakura. Come on, I need to show you something else," Sasuke said as he walked deep within the forest.

Sakura decided to follow him figuring out that even though it was already around 7 pm and dark, she wanted to know what Sasuke-kun wanted to talk about.

I wonder where he is going, it seems he is going within the exteriors of the village, Sakura thought as a small smile appeared on her face as they both passed through a spot she and Naruto used to hang out regularly before the war started.

She kept walking thinking of the day she and Naruto had sat down under that tree to eat lunch.

Flashback:

"Naruto! Sorry I'm late, I brought the casserole, did you bring the refreshments?"

"Ah, Sakura-chan I only brought one soda…" Naruto said as he looked at his only female teanmante. He hoped she wouldn't beat him up too much.

"Naruto, damn it. It's fine. Let's just eat, you can keep the soda."

"Neh, Sakura-chan, why don't we share it?

"What-what?" Sakura stammered as small blush formed on her face.

"Come on Sakura-chan! Hey are you okay? You look a little red, are you getting a fever?" Naruto started as he was about to place a hand on Sakura's forehead before she stopped him with her own.

"I'm fine, baka- Naruto, let's just eat."

The rest of the afternoon, the two friend just ate and shared their food and memories, well into they realized something.

"Naruto, it this *hiccup* sake? Sakura said as she felt like she was light-headed.

"Shit, sorry Sakura-chan *hiccup* Pervy-sage said it was a special type of soda that would help us 'let go' or something…I thought he meant it was going to relax us *hiccup* not get us drunk, Naruto said as he mentally started to cuss at his teacher. Looking at the bottle, he scratched the label until it peeled off. Naruto removed the fake tag to reveal a sake tag. After inspecting it for a few minutes and realizing they had been tricked by his teacher, Naruto looked deeply into Sakura's eyes with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Damn you Naruto, you did this on *hiccup* purpose…"

"Sakura-chaaaan I would *hiccup* never do that…" Naruto said as he started to sway.

"Why you-" Sakura started only to be interrupted.

"Sakura-chan, have you always been *hiccup* this beautiful?" Naruto started as he looked at his female friend. He swore she was the most beautiful women he has seen in his life.

Sakura, unable to respond, was only able to blush intently at his question, "Well, I-"

"Sakura-chan, you know you are the most beautiful women *hiccup* I have ever seen" Naruto said as he sluggishly crawled closer to Sakura and slugged his arm over Sakura's shoulder.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked as her chakra started to dilute the alcohol in her blood. Her heart started beating faster at Naruto's words and actions.

"Sakura, do you love me? Do you *hiccup* want to be with me?" Naruto said as got closer to his female friends face.

"Naruto, you baka-"

Before Sakura could finish her sentence and punch Naruto into a comma, Naruto gently placed his lips on hers.

Unsure on what to do, Sakura just closed her eyes and allowed him to take control of the kiss.

It was sloppy, that was for sure, but... it felt, right.

After a few minutes, Naruto parted away, panting and looked at her with adoration in his eyes that made Sakura's heart beat increase. She was light-headed and also panting.

"Sakura, I-" before he could finish his sentence, Naruto on top of her. He had passed out.

"You baka, why did you kiss me?" Sakura started as she looked at Naruto and placed him next to her. She started to brush his hair with a small smile on her faces he slipped soundly.

"You didn't seem to be complaining."

Sakura jumped at the sudden voice that came from the tree behind her.

"Jiraiya- sama! Why are you doing here?" Sakura said as she looked up at the perverted teacher sitting in a tree.

"I was here to see if I could use anything for my novel, but it seems that it didn't get very entertaining. That fake soda did not work. Although, maybe I can use some of this little interaction between you two and 'expanded'. But I still need a name for my main character, Jiraiya said as he looked at the burning gaze Sakura was giving him. Men, this girl reminder her so much of Tsunade and Kushina...

After trying to think of names for the protagonist in his novel, he looked at Sakura once again and came with a brilliant idea. Hey, would you mind if I name my main character after you, Sakura-chaann?" Jiraiya said as he mocked the way Naruto said Sakura's name. He jumped off the tree and landed next to Sakura with a pen and a small notebook in his hands.

"Your novel? You mean that perverted book Kakashi-sensei is always carrying with him?" Sakura said as she suddenly stood up to look at the man.

"Hey, It's not perverted!" a silver-haired man said as he also jumped off the tree and landed next to the perverted sannin.

"Kakashi-sensei, why were you-" Sakura said before she cut herself off.

"You know what, do what you want! I'm taking Naruto home," Sakura said as she was suddenly grateful that her medical ninjutsu diluted the alcohol within her system fairly quickly.

As Sakura walked away with the picnic basket on one hand and Naruto on her back, she failed to listen to the two perverted ninjas as they talked while looking ahead at the two.

"Jiraiya-san, I thought jinchuurikis couldn't get drunk because their bijuus diluted the alcohol content in their blood," Kakashi said as he momentarily lifted his head from the orange-colored book he was reading.

"Heh, you are correct Karachi, that is true…" Jiraiya said as he kept looking at the two young teens walk away with a small smirk on his face.

"It seems Naruto has been learning more than jutsus from you, Jiraiya-san," Kakashi commented as he once again went back to his book, but with a small smile on his face.

"Indeed, he did."*

Flashback ended

Sakura kept smiling at the memory. When she arrived at Naruto's house, she made him a cup of coffee and dilute his blood of the alcohol. After he woke up, she was about to beat him to a pulp for kissing her, but he didn't seem to remember anything, so she simply pretended it never happened. She concluded his words and actions did not mean anything and he only said them because he was drunk.

Although she wasn't quite sure why he kept grinning at her from time to time.

Sakura was too busy thinking that she failed to notice Sasuke coming to a stop.

As Sasuke's sudden stop, Sakura snapped out of her trance and also stopped in order to prevent bumping into him.

Her smile quickly dropped when she realized where Sasuke had taken her.

It was the same exact bench that he had left her in 3 years ago when she tried to stop him from leaving the village.

"Why are we here, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura said as she looked at the bench with embarrassment and slight anger. How pitiful had she been back then.  
"Sakura, don't you want to know what happened that night?" Sasuke said as he looked intensely at Sakura.

As much as Sakura was dying to know, she didn't want to seem eager to him.

"I- You left me in this bench after knocking me out and then left to train with Orochimaru…What else it is to know?"

"Well, Sakura, let's just say that I left more than just you in this place," Sasuke said as a sad smile appeared on his face.

"What else did you leave?" Sakura said with confusion written all over her face.

And with that, Sasuke grabbed Sakura by both her arms and crashed his lips into hers.

Too shocked to respond, Sakura simply let him kissed her until her eyes eventually closed and responded to the kiss.

Breaking apart after a few minutes, Sasuke licked his lips and looked at Sakura who had half-lidded eyes and was panting.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke finally responded.

"My feelings"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my longest chapter, yet! I'm so proud. Anyways, I'm sorry for not updating in so long, it's just life, you know.
> 
> Like I said in my note at the beginning of this chapter, chapter 4 may come next week on Wednesday or Friday, so please comeback around those days to check it out.
> 
> *I kept thinking of FMA when writing this sentence, haha.
> 
> *Just so people don't freak out about this, Naruto did not know the soda he was given was actually sake. He just rolled with it when he realized it and used the excuse to talk to Sakura more boldly and kiss her.
> 
> Also, as you can see, this story is going to have Sasusaku moments as well.
> 
> Anyways, please review to let me know what you think! Reviews drive me to update quicker!
> 
> Thanks,


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